Stylistics

Hi, I am Dr Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi, a university professor and a professional linguist. Welcome to the course, titled “Stylistics”. In this course, you will study how to analyze literary texts. As you know that Stylistics works as a bridge between linguistic analysis and literary texts, and it helps unearth layers of meaning on a deep level. So, what you are going to learn in this course: starting from what is stylistics, and its subject matter, we will move to text, textuality and discourse, and Barthes’ concept “Author is dead”. We will see how to make a boring lecture exciting, with reference to the teaching plot. Aristotle’s rhetoric; the irony in Pride & Prejudice; Foregrounding and analysis of Cummings’ poem; meter in poetry, text analysis, and as a bonus you will get: videos on postmodernism; Foucault and discourse; Saussure’s structuralism; KISS principle and Saussure and Pierce’s model of sign. In the first, video I have discussed the relationship between “language” and “literature”; “literary theory and criticism”; and between “you” and literature”. So, join this course titled “Stylistics”, and become more resourceful. Assume a situation, you are sitting in a stuffy room, and you would like windows to be opened. How can you say this thing? You can say this thing in different ways: Can you open the window? Will you open the window? Would you mind opening the window? Will you be so kind as to open the window? Open the window, do! The same idea of opening the window can be expressed differently. So, what is the difference? When you say: Can you open the window? It is a neutral way of saying. When you say: Will you open the window? It is a polite way of saying. When you say: Would you mind opening the window? It is a very polite way of saying. When you say: Will you be so kind as to open the window? You are being extremely polite. And when you say: Open the window, do! Then, you are being rude. So, the bottom line is: The same idea can be expressed using different linguistic forms, and the form is dependent upon the speech situation, and the speech situation decides the style.